Beautiful Things
by Dustbowl Dance
Summary: "Quinn laughs as she looks over the photos her newspaper student handed her, showing her the one chosen as the picture for their article about her pregnancy." quill future ficlet


hi, this is like the first i've written in almost a year. hope you enjoy it.

for disclaimer purposes, i am using these licensed characters only for my own enjoyment and have no intentions of making money off of it.

much thanks to prettylittleagent, or Evie, for nudging me along!

oh! the picture i'm referring to can be found here: http:/ www4. . com/photos /477684 /iqbal-theba-and-dianna-agron-gallery .jpg (just, y'know, remove the spaces)

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><p>Quinn laughs as she looks over the photos her newspaper student handed her, showing her the one chosen as the picture for their article about her pregnancy. She's standing with Principal Figgins in the choir room, one hand on her belly, and Will is making a goofy face, trying to get into the shot.<p>

"I made that baby too! I deserve to be in the picture," he had pouted. She had playfully pushed him away, in the direction of his glee club students who were milling around in the classroom, waiting for rehearsal to start.

"I'll see you later, okay? I'm helping Norah Wilkes with her college essay."

He kissed her forehead and she had left the room, saying goodbye to the glee kids.

Speaking of the devil, as she's lying on the couch, torn between watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and staring at the pictures that her newspaper kids gave her, she hears Will unlocking the front door of their small town home. She glances over at him once he finally gets inside and smiles lazily at him when she catches his eye. He sets down his briefcase, hangs up his coat, and walks into the room. He crosses the room and Quinn sits up so that he can sit down, and then gingerly lays her head back down into his lap when he takes a seat.

"Real Housewives? You're killing me, Smalls."

Quinn rolls her eyes and looks up at Will. He's smiling, but she can see the dark circles under his eyes. His Glee kids never did value him the way they should've. She feels a momentary pang of guilt before she remembers that she's going to give birth to his baby, and she remembers how much it hurts to have a baby and thinks maybe they're even.

She reaches up a hand to the side of his face and he leans into her palm, closing his eyes. He reaches out and lays a hand on her stomach and their fingers lace together.

"I made spaghetti with vodka sauce tonight, I left you a plate," she all but mumbles. Being pregnant takes a lot of energy out of her, she's learned. And when you eat that many carbs, it's easy to take a power nap.

"'M not really hungry yet, but it sounds good." They sit silently for a while, and at some point Will takes the remote and flips through the channels and settles on some documentary about Lionel model trains.

"So, how'd the college essay go?" Will asks. Quinn groans and tries to sit up to no avail. She takes it as a sign to just relax and keep her head in Will's lap.

"It was not fun. She's smart, but she took every suggestion as a personal attack. Every time I told her to change something she thought I meant that she wasn't good enough to even get in to college. I think I might've talked her down from a ledge at one point."

Will can't help but laugh, and Quinn pushes herself to sit up so that she can turn and face Will and playfully push him. He takes her hands in his and leans in to kiss her.

It's strange, but even though they've been married for two years she still feels her heart race when they kiss. She still gets butterflies when he walks in to her classroom. And sometimes, she still wakes up in the middle of the night, convinced that this has all just been a dream, and that she'll get up and walk out of the room and be back in her mother's house where he constantly felt stifled and out of control. She honestly has no idea what she did right in this life or a past one to deserve to be this happy.

They had re-met three years ago, when she was 22 and fresh out of college with a degree in English that she couldn't get a job with if her life depended on it. Somehow she ended up teaching back at the very school she had once attended, and her own classroom was directly across from Will's. What had started as running between each other's rooms for supplies and conversation had turned into weekly lunches, which turned into actual dates, which turned into living together. Somewhere in the whirlwind of their relationship, she had realized that she was one of those people who didn't need years to know that she wanted to marry this man. She knew within a month of being around him again, but hadn't fully acknowledged her feelings until much later. Luckily for her, Will was the kind of man who knew a good thing when he saw it, and so they quietly wed in Chicago with Quinn's sister as a witness over a three-day weekend. And the rest, as they say, is history.

She glances down at Will's hand, which once again has come to rest atop of her own on their usual spot on her stomach, right where she can feel the occasional flutter of her baby. She knows that this time around, she (along with Will) is more than able and ready to care for the life inside her. She enjoys every day of the pregnancy, knowing that it really is an incredible time for her, but she can't wait for the baby to arrive. Will is going to be a wonderful father and he's been so excited the entire time that it's like she really is pregnant for the first time. She will always love Beth and regret having to give her up, but they've been able to forge a relationship more reminiscent of godmother and goddaughter that is just not the same as being able to raise her own child. She thinks that this is what pregnancy is _supposed _to be like, happiness and not seeing your toes and having your older child or even your spouse lay their head on your stomach to try and feel or hear the baby kick. She inwardly curses her pregnancy hormones as she realizes she's getting choked up over the fact that she enjoys gaining weight, and quickly regains composure.

Will's voice pulls her out of her thoughts. "Everything okay? You zoned out for a bit there."

She smiles and kisses him again. "Everything's wonderful. Here, look at these pictures. You stole the spotlight from the baby _again_."


End file.
